198. 10 x 10 Catchup

Everything. Ketchup on everything. Ketchup, ketchup, ketchup, ketchup, ketchup on everything. In case it's not clear, I like ketchup. I have since I was a little pup.

So that is why I wrote this song. Now here's a list of things I put ketchup on. Ketchup on salad. Ketchup on toast. Ketchup on potatoes.

Ketchup on hot roast. Ketchup on pudding. Ketchup on biscotti. Ketchup in the glove can bomb me when I'm riding shoddy. Ketchup on string cheese.

Hello and welcome to a good old-fashioned catch-up episode of The Feminine Critique. I'm Emily. And I'm Christine. And when we are not talking about cats watching us use restrooms, we are occasionally podcasting. Occasionally.

That was a specific scenario for one of us. I'm not going to tell you who. You guys can do the math and try to figure out which one of us has a cat who really likes it when we use the bathroom, but really hates it when we close the door. And then draw your conclusions on when we close the door and when we don't. Wow.

This is like, we're already throwing shit out with these people. They're not going to know what to do. That's right. So we had a lot of episodes about movies and we figured it'd been a while, so we should just do a random, here are 10 things that we have been consuming as of late. Yeah.

I think it was a smart idea too, because I was going through my list and I got back to May and I was like, oh my gosh, have we... Am I? Oh, okay. So there's been a lot. There's been a lot.

So, uh, I, I think we said 10 and I think that that's great. I think that's great because I had a flash of us trying to be a little more comprehensive and it felt like four hours. And then it, yes. And then I was like, you know, I really, I have chicken marinating. I'm going to have to cook it at some point today.

Oh, such a good point. So my thinking was I was going to pick 10 movies I've seen recently. I was going to try to do a good mix of older and more recent, but I didn't. wasn't going to do any 2026 because I wasn't sure if we were going to do like a 2026 wrap up. And I know that. Sometimes you need some more time because of things releasing and where they are.

So I figured 2026 end for us is probably early 2027. So I just figured I'd hold all those. I overthought this. No, you thought this beautifully because what this does is this allows me to do something. It allows me to move forward. one of my 2026s off and to put this way.

And I'm going to make a note to myself, which always works out really well. Like when we moved 13 years ago and I was handed a bunch of screws that went to our bookcase and told, okay, make sure you save these because you'll need them again. I said, okay, I'm going to put them in a really safe place. And that safe place has been so safe that it is now at least 13 years later and I've never found them, but I am convinced that, It's like a bookcase that I still have. It's the Billy bookcase from Ikea.

And like, granted, like all you have to do is go to a hardware store and get what you need. But I swear the day we decide that this bookcase has served its life and needs to go, we're going to like put it out on the curb. Somebody will take it and then I'll walk in a room and suddenly there'll be a little bag of the hardware there. Like it's going to show up. It didn't disappear.

I didn't throw it out. I put it in a safe place. We just don't know how safe. It's really safe. So safe.

So safe. So safe that it barely exists anymore. Exactly. All right. So I'm going to move that and make a note of myself for 2026 to do that.

Beautiful. Okay. So throw me one. Tell me something you've watched that you enjoyed. So I've done a lot.

I actually have a decent amount of 2025 movies here. You know, some ketchup, right? And I'm not sure if it just recently became available, but I recently got access to found footage, colon, the making of the Patterson project. If you're not quite sure what I'm talking about, the cover is a guy wearing a Bigfoot suit without a mask. So it's just a Bigfoot suit with like a guy's head.

That's the cover, if you're not quite sure. Because it's a bit of a mouthful, that title. But it's a found footage movie. And it's a found footage movie about a film crew making a Bigfoot movie. But then it's also, like, a weird cult movie outside of that, I guess.

So it's doing, like, every found footage trope between the fact that it's, like, a Bigfoot movie that they're making. And it's also, like, actually, like, a... like a scary movie around it. So it's a huge recommend for me, even if you're not typically a found footage person. I think it's, if you are, there's so many funny jokes and goofy things that feel like really inside jokey. But like, if you're not a found footage person, I still think like the concept is so strong that you'll like it.

I can't imagine somebody not liking this. So was this more on the scary side, funny side or both? It was funny. There are a few like, Like, cool things or, like, fun gags or maybe, like, unsettling setups. But I would never say it was, like, scary.

Okay. It's very farcical. So. I have not heard of this. I need you to make me a list, actually, because you...

So I... Because my... I'll throw my first one out as also a found footage. Ooh! Because it suddenly reminded me of, like...

Oh, yeah, like, I... It's been a while since I've really watched found footage. And when it's good, it's really good. And I know you have such a good running list of found footages that you've really enjoyed. So I'm going to need that from you.

Oh, absolutely. I like being a found footage evangelist at this point in my life. It's a great little pocket to be in because there's so much of it. And it really, you know, I've said it for a long time and I really hold true to it. There is very little worse than a really bad found footage movie because it can be, if it's not good, it can be painful because then it is the definition of, well, you don't need talent to make it in a way.

You don't need talent to make a bad found footage movie, whereas you do need some talent to at least like make a narrative film, a traditional narrative film. But then when they're good, they're so good, but it's just hard to sift through because there's so many of them. So I will take a list from you. I can't remember if you watched this movie or not. This one, I got a recommendation from our dear friend, Abby, who said, try this one.

It's on Shudder. And I watched Hostile Dimensions. No, I don't believe I've seen that. Okay, this is neat. It is on Shudder.

It's really short. It is, I think, which is, I think, also something that found footage movies of recent have gotten really smart about, that they can be short. It's okay. They don't have to even be 90 minutes. This one, I think, is barely 80 minutes of that.

And the concept is there is a like artist who is there. I don't know. She does like graffiti and stuff and she's with her friend and they're filming themselves and they're in like this abandoned warehouse. And there's just a door in the middle of the warehouse, like in this open room, there's a doorway and they open it. And it's like, wait, you can go in here.

What is this? And she goes in and doesn't come out. And so then sometime later, these filmmakers are like, see the footage on YouTube. And they're like, oh, okay, fine. And they find the door, like the guy is like, yeah, take the door.

I don't want it. So they bring it home and they're like, all right, what is this door? And it basically is taking them to dimensions, some of which are hostile, but not all of which are hostile. And what is neat about this is it's a cool concept. It's something very different visually.

It's like immediately doing really weird, cool things because it is a really open landscape of you come out, you open the door and you're on a beach. You open the door and you're in like Squid Game. Like it's just, it's constantly changing. It's creepy, but it's also very funny. I found like this had the exact balance for me of like understanding this movie was like, it wasn't safe.

Like it was scary, but there was also, it wasn't going to be mean. Like I didn't worry so much about things. And then it got a little, little heavy, a little emotional. It's really good. And it's very strange.

And I'm excited to see more from the filmmaker who I think has made one other found footage thing that I have not seen, but I would see more from them. It's, I don't know. I think you, I'd be very interested in what you have to say about it. This is, this is called Hostile Dimensions. Hostile Dimensions.

Dimensions. Dimensions. And I can never remember how I'm supposed to say that word. H-O-S-T-I-L-E. Is it hostile or hostile?

I say hostile. Because hostile, I think of like a hostel is where you, you know, go backpacking and you stay in a hostel. When I see the other one, I'm like, do I have to say hostile? You know me in weird pronunciations of vowel things. No, I do get it.

I understand. I just kind of freestyle these days. Whatever comes out, comes out. I like that way of living. Well, I actually am now noticing I have a few other found footage movies on my list, which was not actually on purpose.

I just have been watching a lot. Mm-hmm. This one isn't, though. So I will say this is a bit of a difficult film. It's I believe it's on Amazon.

I don't know these things and I should probably start. It's that movie from 2022 called Master. Yeah, it was on Amazon. And it's a Regina Hall movie. Yes, it's been on my queue forever, but I have not watched it.

So it's about a New England college. or university and basically like the racism that's happening there. And, but also it's about a witch and it's also in like, it's weird. And I will say it was one of the most upsetting movies I've watched in a while. Like, I watched it right before bed and I had like the heaviest, ickiest feeling. It doesn't necessarily, well, it does.

It's not a pleasant movie, but it's not like one of those relentlessly awful ones. I think like the supernatural elements or the supposed supernatural elements like are present enough that you like, it is like enveloping and you can get lost in them in the story. But there is also a very like heavy, reality that is just hard to watch and sucks because it is like about racism in a New England university. There's no racism in New England. But, and it's, it's, it's all fun.

It's that that's, that's so funny because it's what the whole thing is, is that it's so casual and light sometimes that there are whole scenes that made me want to crawl inside myself just because of how like gross everybody was being like, it was so uncomfortable. But Regina Hall is super, super great. And like, just really fantastic and transformative in this. I kind of forgot it was her a couple of times. So like it's, it's master.

That's the name of it again. It's it. I'm recommending it because I, I can't stop thinking about it, but it also really was tough. I don't know. I don't, I don't like, like, I don't like when things go, bad things keep happening to the same character over and over and over again.

And that's just like a genre of storytelling in a type of horror movie where it is almost like a relentless punishment. But I do get that that is truly what the life of a Black academic can feel like. I know some Black academics and that is what it feels like. They're being punished over and over and over again for just trying to do a job. So I guess it highlights that real well.

No, that's... um the thing about a like subject matter like that and sort of the weight of a movie like that is if it's done well it's then it's important and satisfying even if it's hard and when it's done poorly it um just can make you angry and make you wish you hadn't watched it but it sounds like this was done really well and is absolutely worth watching. So well yeah i so if you've kind of been hovering i would say if you're ever in the mood for something kind of challenging but also really like good. It was kind of scary. It's funny because I feel like sometimes I think of Amazon specifically as, oh, I go there when I want something not good. Because Amazon has a really big collection of lower budget new stuff and stuff from 2010s.

It's rare that I'm like, oh, on Amazon, I watched this really good movie. It's more I think if I, I want to watch something that I want to write about quickly or something, that's just going to scratch a itch of like, Oh, I want a genre movie. I can go there and pick anything on my queue. And every now and then something's good, but I forget that like, Oh no, sometimes there's like actual good stuff. That's so funny because I actually use it completely opposite.

I, I don't, I don't personally have access to it like myself. So I have to gain access from other places. So the only time that I access it is when it's targeted. Like I knew I wanted to watch this movie because I am doing my lady director list. Nice.

And this one had kind of been in the, for me too, like in the background, like, when am I going to give this a try? So I had to, I had to go get it. Okay. Well, remember I can hook you up with Amazon. So don't forget that.

I do. You, you have been one of my suppliers. I often forget logins and then. Don't just text me. I know.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm a weenie that way. I don't want to bother people. Yeah, bah.

Okay, so I'll give one that was on the note of Amazon and Lady Director. I got one for you. This might be from this year, but it's Amazon, so it doesn't count because they don't put any investment in actual marketing of their original content. So I will do it for them on this one. This is a...

It's not really horror. It's really more action. It is a ballerina in turmoil movie. It is pretty lethal. Oh, I watched that.

Yeah. What did you think? It was fine. Yeah, I liked it. I think I liked the script more than what I actually saw on the screen.

Okay. What did you think? I enjoyed it. I know I had seen one or two people recommend it. And it was people whose opinions I generally trust.

So I was like, all right, let me try this. And it was like one of those movies I watched over the course of like, oh, when I'm sitting down having breakfast, let me turn this on. And like three days later, I'm like, oh yeah, let me keep watching that movie. It's, and again, on the topic of like the reverse of this, where it's very light, it is, you know, young ballerinas who are traveling through Budapest and their bus breaks down. So they end up in this like gangster bar and very quickly have to like fight for their lives.

And because they're ballerinas, they are not like assassins, but they're really fucking athletic. And when they have to fight for their lives, they're really good at it. I really liked, there's one really great action sequence that I enjoyed. Just the idea of kind of them being like, we're fucking ballerinas. We can do this.

And I thought there was a lot of smart decisions within it of how the, like there's, you know, one character is deaf and it's worked into the movie perfectly well and it makes perfect sense. And, I really liked most of the actresses. I wasn't familiar with Maddie Ziegler because I don't watch Dance Moms or whatever she was on. But I thought she was a great centered presence. I loved the rich mean girl.

She was great. She was sassy. She was fun. And I enjoy this era of Uma Thurman doing crazy accents. Yeah.

Yeah, she was kind of, like, bizarrely the high point for me in it. I was like, what is she doing? Like, good for her, right? Yeah, she seems to be, like, at this point in her career where she's like, I just, I don't care what the movie is as long as I have an accent. Uma, you know, you're not, like, that's not really what a Hungarian sounds like.

I don't care. I'm doing this accent. Like, it's just, that's what she does now. And good for her. She seems to be having fun.

Yeah, it, um. It has a lot going for it. And even if it's middling at best, it's still a lot of fun. Yeah. So I definitely would recommend it too.

Yeah. All right. Give me one. Okay. I'm going to give you one.

So I guess this is kind of found footage. And I think some people will probably be putting it on their this year list because of when it became available. But I'm not. I'm a literalist. So 2025's Buffet Infinity.

Okay. I keep seeing it on Shudder and I have no idea what it is. So I classify it as found footage because it is like, if you found a video cassette that someone just recorded their TV for an hour and a half, someone just recorded their TV. So it's, it's basically, I'm recommending it to everybody, not just Emily. So everybody listen.

So it's basically if a bunch of local TV ads were telling the story of, like, these weird happenings in a town. Okay. So it's all told through local TV ads, so you get to know some characters. There's, like, a lawyer you get to know, and there's, like, these pawn shop owners you get to know. And, like. there's like this cult figure that's kind of hidden in the background of some stuff, but it's mostly about this buffet that just keeps growing and is taking over the town.

Oh, I like this. So it's, but it's, it's highly absurdist and it feels like an adult. I've heard people say it feels like an adult swim sketch or like, like an overlong and, and it's very rapid. My mom did not like it. She didn't understand what she was watching.

She didn't, she didn't, like it. She never found her footing with it. I guess. I was going to say, it sounds from what you're saying, like it's something probably best watched in one sitting. I would say so.

I think what, what Zach and I observed, because I think it might be his, the favorite, his favorite movie of like the last couple of years, he really liked it. So one thing we observed was like, it, it's, it seems like it's a, someone with ADD's dream. He has ADHD. Um, And, but it's not like, it's so rapid that you can't stop watching it. You can't look away.

You can't check your phone because it'll, it'll, you'll miss something. It's moving that fast and it's so intertwined and you're just constantly trying to figure out like how it all loops together that you end up just enraptured by this 90 minute, essentially commercial. Huh? I feel like there was what that, like the, was it the Halloween tapes or something that There was something a few years ago that was sort of horror comedy that was doing something similar, where it was just like as if you had recorded commercials during a Halloween special or something. Is that that W-A-U-N-F Halloween?

Everyone's yelling. Everyone's yelling at us, but neither one of. Us have seen it. Guys, we're not cool, okay? If everybody's talking about something, we're not in that room.

We weren't invited. But if it's like the call letters of the station Halloween special, I think I know exactly what you're talking about, but I haven't seen it. Okay. But that sounds familiar. I'm really intrigued by this because I've seen it go by on Shudder.

It's like been there, like one of their top things for a while. And I read the synopsis and I was like, I don't, understand because what tends to happen for me is I mean I love being surprised by a movie but also if I am picking a movie to watch on my own it's going to be like one of two scenarios either I am watching it like knowing okay it's the morning I'm going to watch half of it today and half of it two days from now um so I'm going to be paying attention but also I'm going to be splitting it up and making breakfast or it's a okay it's if it's not something I'm going to watch with my husband It's going to be one of those, like, all right, he's going to bed, so I'm going to turn something on.

Am I awake enough for this? Am I in the mood? You know, I don't have many of these, so it's got to be the right mood. And every time I see that go by, I'm like, I don't understand what... I think it's a horror comedy, so I don't know if I'm ever in that mood.

But now I'm intrigued, and I wonder if he will like it and if I should watch it with Brandon tonight. I feel like it's going to be divisive. I would love to know what he thinks. If you guys like list humor, like listing things in long lists. I.

Really like list humor. I have never thought about whether I like list humor. And now I feel like I don't know myself. I just, I always laugh when a list is increasingly absurd. Yes.

When a list is too long. I always think that's a funny, like. Agreed. Yeah. Yeah.

And that there's like so many runners about just like absurdly piling on to already existing. It's, it's very absurdist. I think you might like it. Yeah. No, we're going to do this.

Cause, um, both Brian and I grew up with the books at home of the David Letterman's top 10 lists. You know what I mean? Like I used to read those just for fun, like randomly open to a page. And the one thing I'll always remember is how many jokes he would make about Orville Redenbacher. There was just, yeah.

Like, I mean, I guess like everybody has that one, like famous person or something that you find really funny and like maybe others don't, but you're just going to keep, keep banging that horn. Banging that horn, banging that drum, blowing that horn. So David Letterman had a thing about Orville Redenbacher. But anyway, yes, I am going to propose this as a watch tonight because I'm very intrigued. Let me know what you think.

I can't wait to hear. All right. On the. OK, so pivoting, but maybe not. I'm going to throw out a movie that similarly I am so confused by.

I have no idea what to make of it, but I am fascinated by it. So I had always known, as you know, I love a musical. I like to one day die having seen most of the notable musicals ever made. This is one. It's a title I knew for a while because it's also considered a major flop and a very like what killed the musical in some ways.

And it was airing on TCM. So I'm like, oh, I'm going to record and we're going to both my husband and I sit down and watch Pennies from Heaven. 1981, I think. Do you know this movie? Steve Martin, Bernadette Peters.

Christopher Walken, Jessica Harper. Lovely, lovely Jessica Harper. I believe this is a movie that I've seen when I was very young, like on cable or on TV. I don't feel like I've seen it as an adult at all. So I have no sense of it.

Interesting. It is not a movie a child should watch. No. Well, Steve Martin, right? Yes.

You know that he's my favorite Muppet. cameo of all time oh I mean yes so I would that's why I. Like to sniff the bottle cap. So many Steve Martin things I should not have watched. Well and this I mean the uh genesis of this movie is fascinating because he was coming off of the jerk it's him and Bernadette Peters again and are you a jerk fan uh has it been again when I was like. When I was like 12 I was yeah I I love.

The jerk I still one of my most um What's the word? Frustrating experiences in life ever. If I was making my own top 10 list of moments in life that I was most angry at my fellow man in not getting a joke that was really funny. In college one day, our RA knocked on the dorm with a pile of books and said, hey, here's the new phone directories. You can have one.

And I took it and I looked at him and said, the new phone books are here. And I screamed down the hall, the new phone books are here. The new phone books are here. And I ran to my page. I said, see, I'm here.

I'm somebody. And nobody, nobody. And I started like knocking. On doors until I found somebody who was like the jerk. I'm like, yes.

Okay, good. Now I can go to bed. So yes, I think about that a lot. But Pennies from Heaven made shortly after the jerk. Where Steve Martin is still considered, like, comedic guy.

He hasn't, like, quite crossed over into, like, family comedic guy. But you watch Steve Martin, you think you're getting comedy. Pennies from Heaven is so fucking weird. Is it? Okay.

It is. I remember it being, like, a light romp. No. So it's not. No, it is not a light romp.

So, okay. It is set during the Depression. And Steve Martin in this movie is an asshole. Like, I do think he's miscast in weird ways, but I think part of that isn't necessarily he was miscast then. It's like today it's hard to not shake it.

But so he's a traveling salesman. He's married to Jessica Harper, who basically does not want to have sex, is scared of sex. They should not be married because he just wants to have sex. He travels to a town where he falls for Bernadette Peters, who's like prim school teacher, but maybe she wants to not be a prim school teacher. You know, this just sounds like a fine little story. except for many things.

One thing is that it's a musical. It is the strangest musical kind of like the closest I can think of is Bugsy Malone. Which is strange, which is very strange. It's a strange analogy to make, but it is the closest movie I can compare it to. So there are song breaks and it's very much like fantasy song breaks where like, he's like looking at Bernadette Peters and suddenly like a song in his head type thing.

And the songs, it is never the actor singing. Like it's not Steve Martin singing, but, it is all like songs from the thirties. So it's like Irvin Berlin and whoever else was seeing 1930s and it's songs that like, you know, like pennies from heaven and so on. Yeah. But it's, it's like old, tiny, like, like chattery voice.

And imagine Bernadette Peters, who I can't look at Bernadette Peters without hearing her sing, because that is, she's a musical theater goddess, but she opens her mouth and it's not her voice. It is the voice of a 1930s, like chirpy singer. What is with that choice? Why would you cast certain people then? I think the strangest decision in a way is, but like Bernadette Peters is actually really well cast in the part.

But it's just so jarring because you're like, but that's not her voice. And even like Jessica Harper, who we know can sing, at one point sings and it's not just Jessica Harper singing. So it's so strange because it's doing something to your brain. And when it first happens, the first person to do it is Steve Martin, who opens his mouth to sing. And it is like, I've known Steve Martin my whole life, in a way.

That's not Steve Martin singing. And it's very stylized. It is very... The musical numbers are really elaborate. That's what I remember.

Yeah. I think that's what... You could pick any of them and show them. That's what you kind of... If you're clicking through channels, or if an adult has something on, that's the... time where you would kind of wander in and there's.

A whole sequence where Bernadette Peters is singing with children because she's a teacher so there's like a sequence where she is saying like the kids are all singing and dancing and it's great like it is it's a Herbert Ross who also did Footloose and a couple of other things of note so like he knew how to stage a musical and the musical sequences are really like involving and then it gives you this like even bigger disconnect between this fantasy sequence with like an unhoused man singing pennies from heaven, like while like gold is glittering down on him. And then you cut to him in the diner, like, you know, eating a pancake with his hand because he hasn't eaten in three days. And so it's, it's very dark.

And the other, I think like the main thing is like Steve Martin is not likable in it. He's a, he's a jerk, like not, but not the jerk, if you will. So it's like just really strange. And like, it's, it's, like it really did it end like when it started when the singing first started I actually had a moment of like I don't know if I could do this this is me talking like this is not comfortable like I don't like this yeah and then by the end I was like like very much into it and then I found myself like I could not like like you're saying with master I couldn't stop thinking about it like yeah I just had like the longest conversation with Brandon I'm like well here's what like here's what I think might've made it work.

I'm like, no, it never would have worked. It never would have been commercially successful. I don't think there was any way to do that with this movie because it was so bleak and there's no way to advertise it where you're going to get, it's like that whole issue of like a musical where they don't actually tell you it's a musical. And so you go in and then you're angry. It's a musical.

But in this case, if you went in like expecting just noir, then you're angry that there's music in there. But if you went in expecting a musical, you're angry that it's noir. It's just, it wouldn't have worked. But I do like, I was like thinking, because it was based on a miniseries with Bob Hoskins that I am intrigued to find somewhere. Like, I don't know if it ever. would have pleased anybody but it's fascinating like it's a big swing and it is unlike anything I can think of and I like want more people to watch it because I want to know what like how did it feel for other people because it was such a strange experience.

Did you look up reviews and stuff? Was it... Oh yeah, most... Pauline Kael loved it. Roger Ebert hated it.

And you mostly... I think critics actually... It did okay critically. It actually got a couple of Oscar nominations for things like production design and music stuff. Actually, the screenplay...

I forget who wrote it, but the screenplay was Oscar nominated. But the movie was an absolute flop. Didn't make half its budget. So I think you had some... film critics that kind of got it, but a lot of others that were just walked into a movie, not knowing Steve Martin or Ebert's review was basically like, people are coming here to see these characters from the jerk. And this is mean and miserable.

Why would you make this? Why would you put all this beautiful production capacity into this very dark, mean story? Which like, in a way he's not wrong, but I like, I got a lot more from it probably than he did, but I wonder if he ever revisited it because it's, I don't know, it's just strange. And it really is one of those like, oh, I'm so glad I watched this now in life when I like, like to be surprised. And I, you know, like to still discover something that has been sitting there for, you know, 40 plus years to me was very exciting.

Yeah. That's always thrilling, right? Yeah. Well, I can't say that I'll ever watch that. Fair.

I don't know. I don't think you would like it. Yeah, it doesn't necessarily sound like my thing. Like if the music was more fun, maybe, but like it doesn't sound. Christopher Walken has a brilliant, fascinating musical sequence that you can probably just watch on that on its own.

That sounds more. Yeah, I mean, it's him. He was a dancer. He knew what he was doing. And it's really, really impressive.

Yeah, well, I mean, that casting at least makes sense. Well, want to shift to something completely different? Yes. Okay, so this is a little bit more for my more forgiving found footage friends. I only say that because it's a little lower budget, a little rougher, whereas what I have already suggested, Patterson Project and Buffet Infinity are much more polished.

This is a little rough around the edges, though. But I think it's very good. It's from 2025. It's called The Rebrand. And it's on Hoopla, I believe is where I watched it.

But it's about a videographer that comes to film the rebrand of this lesbian influencer couple. So it's all very queer and weird. Nice. And then the influencer couple is super unhinged and one of them is like a very weird narcissist. And the other one is just like constantly feeding into those delusions and, you know, they get violent and they try to steal the lady's baby.

That's not like a spoiler. It's kind of like the movie, but it's, it's called the rebrand and it is, I think very interesting and fun and, And it is, I don't actually know if it, how the director identifies. I have them currently categorized in my movies directed by women, but I could be wrong in that categorization, but it's definitely got a very like feminine queer bend to it that you don't see in a lot of this genre. You don't get that. Like the influencer couple thing in and of itself is interesting, but it's like, it's like all the cast and crew, I believe. seem to be queer as well and you can kind of like tell because it has this this like energy to it that a lot of things don't and it has this weirdness to it that i think really makes the roughness of maybe the the budget feel less obvious because it is so aggressively strange and unusual that That like, I don't know, me personally, I don't care if like a room looks cheaply decorated when like the people in it are doing wild shit.

Yeah. So I mean, that's the difference between like, you know, a low budget when you're watching a low budget movie. I can forgive anything that is budgetary restricted as long as there's like a spirit to that movie that is driving it as like, oh, no, like they tried to make a movie. This is the best they can do. and their hearts in it, or they're telling a story that's interesting, or they're showing some promise here. Yeah, if there's if that spark is there, especially if it's something that's just, oh, and it's slightly different from anything else I've seen, like that, that goes a long way.

Yeah, I think that you said it perfectly, really, it is that and I think that the specialness comes from like, that there's this need and like in books and movies, but of like this, like positive representation of all queer people. And like, so you end up with like, like the black judge thing, like all the black people on TV are judges. Now we can't have helpful gay best friend. So now all the queer people are like little perfect angels, but it's fun to see like these nightmare people because it's fun. It's and then they have fun with it.

So yeah. Agreed. Okay. I will look for that one. Intriguing.

Yeah. Hoopla's really good, too. I've been trying to use it more. I know. I know.

I know. Well, I had this annoying thing with Hoopla because I changed my library. I'm so sorry. And then my Hoopla went away, and I've been trying to log into it again, and it's like, oh, yeah, I can log in, but I just can't rent anything. So it's very...

I know. I'm so sorry to be waving my Hoopla in your face. Let's talk to the Westchester Library System about it. It's fine. At least we have good library sales.

That's... that's a that's important it's very important to me yes all right what do you got where am i gonna go um okay you know what here i'll i've been holding on to this one uh this is. I watched your movie i watched um the movie named for you christine christine the movie christine not the car movie the other christine movie. That is not about oh with rebecca ferguson with rebecca hall oh so sorry you did the thing it's fine we all do it wrong rebecca Did it make you so depressed you couldn't function? Okay, so here's the thing. So, Christine, for those who don't know, is not a movie about this Christine, thankfully.

It is a movie about Christine Chubbuck, who was a news, like, small-town news person in the 70s, who, and this is not a spoiler, because you kind of need to know this going in, otherwise you will have a really hard time walking away from it. She famously shot herself on camera. She was at suffered through a lot of things and she did die from that. I, so I went to see this at my little local theater, which does in-person Q and A's and stuff. And I get the email saying they're showing this with guests in attendance for a Q and A after of the director and Rebecca Hall.

That's very cool. I mean, I think Rebecca Hall is, if not the best, then one of the best working actors today. Yeah. She is so fucking good in everything she does. And also a really good, you still haven't seen Passing, have you?

Her directorial movie. No, I haven't. So fucking good. Like, you can't be that good. At everything, lady.

I think she might be. She is. So I was really excited because I'm like, okay, because I had held off on watching this movie. I've almost watched it many times, but I knew it was not going to be a fun watch. And so this was like, okay, great.

This is my opportunity to go see it in a theater where I'm in the right headspace for it and then see a Q & A after. And there was actually the Q & A was they added the screenwriter and Tracy Letts was also there. Very, very funny man in person. And just seeing Rebecca Hall there was, and of course she spoke about it beautifully and she is smart and beautiful and all that stuff. Yeah, this is, here's the thing.

It is a, it is a very sad movie. It's about a woman who was dealing with a lot of demons and did not know what to do about them. Had nobody around her that helped could, knew what to do with them. Um, and so the movie is depressing. You, you know where it's going.

It's driving there. I think it makes some really interesting choices along the way. And at the end, um, I, the very end of this movie kind of makes a little choice that for me really helped see, not save it, but like, I don't want to give anything away, but there is kind of like a little coda that also I'm a Mary Tyler Moore fan. And, um, this movie has like, you are, if you, we, my husband and I were watching a lot of Mary Tyler Moore show, which is also set at this era in a newsroom and so on. And the movie then at the very end kind of does like a little wink to it in a way that sort of like centered me that sort of helps, like it helps you come out of the movie a little bit.

Like it doesn't just end here. It ends and then sort of like takes your hand and kind of walks you over to a line to sit down. Um, so I found it, uh, I'm glad I watched it. I don't know that I would want to watch it again, certainly no time soon, maybe in 20 years when it's in some kind of film project. But it's very good, and she's incredible, and yeah.

Yeah, I watched it a long time ago at this point. I don't know what year it came out, but... 10 years ago, almost, I think. Yeah, so maybe eight years ago. I wasn't early to the party, but it had been a semi-recent release.

I just remember how deeply upsetting I found it. And I don't remember a ton, but... it is one of those movies where I, I kind of almost feel like, maybe that's okay that I don't remember. Like I, I know the experience I had with it and it really did solidify her as quite a standout talent. I think something she can do so well is she has, and I like any way I say it, I feel like kind of sounds like reductive, but she can, she has a way into difficult characters. that you just believe and follow. And she seems like, like the way she was, one of the things she was talking about was how for her, it was really like the body language was kind of her way into that character of just like, she saw like a teeny bit of video of her and was like, okay, I got it.

She hunched, you know, she hunches a little bit. She always is leaning this way because when she puts her weight back here, this is where she feels more centered. Like, and I mean, that's always interesting to me to see like a great actor talk about where they find the performance. But just like most of the things I've seen her and she's playing, it's not just like, oh, it's like a difficult movie, but a character who is not somebody that you're immediately on her side, like a character who is putting you at a distance because she's putting her friends at a distance because she's battling things and not letting people in and not being nice and not so on. And Rebecca Hall can just do that so well in a way that just feels natural and believable and very, very deep.

Yeah, I agree. Have you ever seen that movie, that ghost movie? What's it called? Awakening where she's like a old timey ghost hunter. No, I have not.

I hope I, I hope everything I just said was real and not something that I just hallucinated. No, that I can picture the like video bot, not video box. How old am I? The, I can picture like, The little thumbnail that goes by on Netflix or something of it. Yes, I know exactly the movie you're talking about.

I think you're right. It's called The Awakening. I did bother to look it up. The Awakening and it is her and Dominic West. So it's from 2011.

And I think, again, I think I saw it in like 2012. So it's been a minute, but I remember it being really good. And that's when I was like, oh, who is this woman? I am adding that to my list. Okay.

Okay. All right. Tell me what you got. So back to 2025, because apparently that's just what I'm doing. This isn't so much of a recommend, but a movie that I finally watched and I can't remember if you watched it.

So I put it on the list. Did you see Weapons? I did. I am. Oh, yes.

Because when I had seen it, you had not seen it. So I was like, OK, I want to wait because I'm so curious where you'll what you'll think of it. So please tell me. That's what I thought. Yeah, that's what I thought.

But I couldn't focus. I have a lot of feelings on it and I don't think I've said them out loud yet here. So please, you go first. I want to hear what you thought. So I really was not a fan of Barbarian and I can articulate exactly why.

Were you? Loved the first hour? Hated the rest of it? Eh. It was fine.

I think I knew it was going to turn. So I didn't get too invested in anything. So it all kind of felt a little eh. But I think I expected to be maybe like irritated by weapons or like angry at it or like having a big emotion. But I was mostly just kind of like, eh, I didn't, I was left feeling like maybe I didn't get it.

Not literally. I know I understood the movie, but I didn't, I didn't get. Every reaction to it. It's a metaphor. For how much this director hates old ladies.

Well, I mean, the hagsploitation is just like kind of hard to ignore at this. Point because I mean, if I had a nickel for every time Zach Kroeger made a movie about a gross old lady being gross and evil. I have two nickels, which isn't a lot, but it's still too many more. Exactly. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

But like, I get that there's like, I get that you have problems with your mom, guy. I don't care. I think you have like an evil grandmother or something. I just don't care. Maybe, maybe.

I don't even know what it is, but there's just something about some version of the female process that is just like, repellent. And a lot of, a lot of filmmakers are working that out too. It's just personally, whether, whether I'm being overly literal or not, it's just not something I'm interested in seeing. So like, I thought I'd be like, this is, this is blah, blah, or all these like feelings about how like I'm offended by it or something. But in the end, it just felt like an undone script and like drag me, whatever.

But like, I don't understand why certain filmmakers are allowed to put out. What they are. Because to me, in my opinion, it wasn't a completed script. There's so many things that aren't explored or seem to be in there for no reason. And I get maybe it's stuff to leave yourself for if you do a sequel or a prequel or another version or it's Easter eggs because that doesn't mean anything anymore.

But like for me, a viewer who doesn't know or care, like I have base questions about this universe and I never get answers. And personally, I don't like that. Well, and how much of it also is a lot of good decisions and casting that make. So many of those characters much richer than they maybe were on the page where you feel like you're supposed to get more of the school principal or of Josh Brolin even like where it feels like, oh, you struck gold by being able to cast Julia Garner as your lead. You didn't really know what you were doing with her, but you have a really good actor leading this.

So I'm following along with it, even if it's, I don't know that you know where you're going with it. Um, I had, we went to see it like the weekend it came out, it came out, I had known people had started talking it up and I wanted to see it really quickly before everybody had an opinion on it and like started or like started saying things and it started swaying me and Brandon knew nothing about it going in. So, cause we like kind of suddenly went, it was our anniversary and we were out and like something fell through. We're like, let's, let's go have dinner at the Alamo and watch this movie. And the first, I don't know, I guess like what half hour, the first story.

I was, oh, this is going to be so good. I am here. The narration, the like, just the concept of teacher shows up and her students are all gone. The kids running out. Like there were so many things about that.

Alamo had like their little like pre-show half hour, like edited together thing. And a lot of the stuff there was really cool and kind of like led me, put me in the right space for it. So I was like, ooh, okay, I am here. I'm really here for this. And then the movie just keeps going.

And you realize quickly, like, you don't really know where he's going. And it does feel like he kind of made stuff up as he went along, went back and did stuff. Again, like, you cast Amy Madigan, like, you and I grew up with Field of Dreams. We are both in the bank for anything Amy Madigan does, and I think she's great in it. But also, it, like, it just, it hit a point where I was like, I'm...

And I liked the very ending. I thought it was fun. Because it kind of got to that absurd point. And afterwards, I remember leaving with Brandon, sitting down in the car, and slowly talking about it. Because both of us kind of, I think, were thinking it through.

And for him, he just felt like, he's like, it just got so mean. Like, once the kid was dealing with his parents, once the kid was watching his parents die in front of him, like, for Brandon, that was just ugly and just took the movie into this other direction. that like, yeah, it was hard to come back from that to this kind of like goofy kids tearing apart an old woman thing. And just for me, like the, the, like that lingering taste bud of not seeing, cause I saw Barbarian fairly late after everybody had talked about it. So even though like I went in not knowing specifics of it, I went in knowing people loved this movie and with Barbarian, I found like, and I can't deny for both movies, I think he's a, a, he has a lot of good filmmaking.

I think he can make some really good sequences. And with Barbarian, I was kind of like, I'm there for some of this. And now you've taken it into this ridiculous direction. You've added sexual assault for some reason. And you've got this gross old woman and you hired a man to play the gross old woman.

Okay. There's a lot of things here I'm weird about. So then for weapons where it's like, oh, okay. You just went like, you're really into gross old women being scary and being evil and stuff. And it's just hard to like, keep seeing that.

Not like just, kind of i don't know um his resident evil is out now i'm like hey if anybody's because i'm not going to a theater to see it i'll watch it eventually when it comes oh it's out i thought we were just talking about it i think it's out or it's out next. Week maybe uh maybe it's i haven't seen. Like a single commercial for it but i feel like people were talking about it evil 2026 yeah um it's set to premiere september 17th okay so it's coming out in a oh. So like i guess this week We'll probably be seeing press screenings and stuff soon. I'm very curious if there's going to be like an old lady zombie, because how can there not be?

I just read something about how test audiences said it was too funny. or something and and now people are like if it's not good it's because the test audiences or whatever um i didn't i don't find him funny and i i know that i i get that i'm the odd man out here i'm gonna stop saying it i don't find him funny I didn't find the structure of this movie interesting. I didn't like the narration. It all felt like lazy screenwriting stuff. And that's so cool. I get that I'm not a real screenwriter and I have to follow so many rules that it will make you feel like not doing it.

And that he's a golden God and. He can do whatever he wants. But like, it's not, to me, and I can't help myself. That is my lived experience. It feels unfair.

Watching it is like, why does this guy get to do this? It's not even good. Like- Yeah. And yet it's one of those things that you're just like, and yet everybody loved it. And it won an Oscar, which is great for Amy Madigan and still will have one of my favorite Oscar moments of all time was when she wins and the look Ed Harris gives her.

I'm a sucker for that. I will probably, when I am sad, go watch that moment again. But still, it doesn't mean I like the movie in the end. No, no. And she was great in it.

And you're not wrong. It's not just the Julia Garner casting. It's It's her, it's Benedict Wong, it's the gentleman that played Han Solo, whose name I can't think of. They're all so amazing. And if you had just cast maybe someone less either talented or appropriate for the role, it might have read completely different.

And I guess maybe that is the genius of the whole Buffalo filmmaking or whatever. He knew who had to be in these roles to make these very tricky things work. Or whatever. So, like, good for him, I guess. Yeah.

No, I get it. Good for him. Good for him. All right. I'm going to switch gears to another horror movie that did not have probably the budget that Weapons had.

Didn't have the cast it did. But it had a great cast. So, okay. So, we've talked about, like, how a lot of specific, like, sub-genres of horror get very, like, you have to do something different with it. Otherwise, give me a reason to watch it.

Yeah. And I think, like, that's true of shark movies. Yeah. right? Because I've always said like the thing about a shark movie, there's only so much you can do. Cause it's like, I fall in the water, the shark's going to get me.

I'm going to swim until maybe I get out. Maybe I don't. What else can you do with a shark movie right now? Granted, we've had like a shark saw movie, which was different. We had sharks on the plane.

Like you can do things, but here was one that I thought did like exactly what I want horror movies to do, which was set it in a time that we don't see these movies in. So this movie is called fear below. a completely generic title that I had to double check because I could not remember it at all. And Fear Below is, I don't know, it's recent, fairly recent, a couple of years ago, probably. I watched this on Hulu. It is an Australian movie set in Australia post-World War II.

So it's like mid-1940s, like 1945. And it is like this scrappy little like diving company, which is like this old guy who's drunk, who's, you know, was in the war. The then is like two young employees. One is female. So like it's the only way she can get to get work.

And the other is Aboriginal. So it's like, OK, cool, interesting, diverse cast with a sort of like different dynamic. And then what happens is these gangsters, their car, like they're in a shootout, their car with a whole lot of gold crashes into this body of water and they need to get it out. So they go to these divers. And of course, there's a shark down there.

So it's these divers trying to get, you know, like helping gangsters who will kill them once they get it. And they kind of started to figure that out, but are trying to figure out like what they can do about this. Oh, and also there's a shark, but also it's 1945. So it's like, they're using old timey guns and they don't have cell phones and they don't have like great diving equipment and everything. And it's one of these movies that like, it's, it is never like the shark stuff isn't that scary, but the, Characters are so good and the acting is so good.

The lead actress, I should have cited her name, is in, I realize, I'm like, this is the third aquatic horror movie I've seen her in. She was in, there's like, oh God. And all of them were, weirdly, all of them were on Hulu. Now I got to check out and see to get this straight. Okay, Hermione Corfield is her name.

And she was in Sea Fever, which is also about divers. And there's like an alien type thing underneath it. Fear Below and then she was in this other movie that was set on a boat where she was trying to survive on a boat and I'm not going to find the name of it but trust me it was on a boat maybe I'm mixing it up but anyway so she's apparently who you cast when you need like a horror film set underwater but it's it was really good I really enjoyed it like I liked these characters so much that I was rooting for them And that's always a really good sign. It was a way of doing a shark movie slightly differently. I do love a good shark movie, but they are often very repetitive or just like there's some recent ones that I've seen reviews for, like recent within the last two years.

And people are like, like, don't even bother. So I kind of have stopped watching some of the newer ones because I feel like maybe we hit too much of like a formulaic like place with them. It's a harder thing than... Like, you are so limited because you have to be in the water. And you have to, like, you're either in the water or you're trying to get out of the water.

Like, there's just, you're really limited by what. You can do. And it's funny because Deep Blue Sea keeps showing up on cable, like, while I'm cooking. And every time it's on, I'm like, I gotta watch Deep Blue Sea again. And every time I watch it, I'm like, this is such a stupid, perfect movie.

Yeah. And it's hard after that movie to ever do another shark movie because it does everything you want in a shark movie. Except set it in 1945 Australia. No, that's really cool. There's a found footage movie that I haven't watched yet that's supposed to be set in like a really wild time and they use wild camera footage to do it.

And they actually use the real wild cameras to do it. Like it's pre anything you would ever do a found footage movie for. So that reminds me of this. Like it's so silly and easy, but like, yeah, man, take your weird idea and put it in a weird time. Exactly.

Yeah. It's, it's, It makes me think of Byzantium too, which is just like vampires. Yeah. You transplant like this, this idea that we all feel really good about into like this strange setting. It's cool.

Yeah. That one sounds good. Yeah. I think you'd enjoy it. I do love a good show.

It's like playful. And the, again, the, the good guys are really good and you're really rooting for them. And the bad guy, I'm like, this guy needs to play Australian Tony Soprano. He looks like James Gandolfini, but like, he's I don't know he was like kind of sexy but I'm like no he can't be because he's really evil he's bad but he like really like he was like so magnetic and charismatic so it was also like one of those like oh I want to watch him do stuff again. That's always fun to find weird little things like that I have a weird little thing and it's kind of wild that I hadn't watched this so this was heavily recommended to me by somebody online and it's um From 2014, it exists like E-X-I-S-T-S.

And it's a found footage movie directed by Eduardo Sanchez, who I think we both kind of love. Yeah, he's I mean, Eduardo Sanchez is one half of Blair Witch, right? Yes, he's Blair Witch, but he's also Lovely Molly, which. Is which we both love. We both love his his segment in VHS, too, is is maybe one of my favorite is very good of any of the VHS segments ever.

So this is a Bigfoot movie. I didn't mean to put two Bigfoot movies on here. But this is a Bigfoot movie. It's kind of got that 2014 feeling to it. It's late cycle as far as found footage movies are concerned.

So it's got that a bit more sheen than you might be used to. And it's maybe a little bit rougher. Meaner. Not mean, but nastier. Of that time, maybe a little bit more.

But it It really cements that Eduardo Sanchez is maybe the greatest to ever do found footage. Nice. It's like he mixes filming techniques. So it's like super visually. It's always visually interesting.

He never just like puts a camera somewhere. It's always visually interesting. And I love that. And to your point earlier, I think. that's a skill like it's it might be it might be easy to make a found footage movie but it's hard to make a good one so like when you see somebody kind of like this is a master class like he's giving a master class in this um and it's a good movie too like it's kind of weird and bigfooty and violent and stuff um so i recommend it but if you just also like really good found footage filmmaking it's great from a craft standpoint I think I. Remember because it that was the weird time period where we kept getting like pairs of found footage movies about the same random thing where there were two alien found footage movies and then this it was this and there was another one with the guy from pretty little liars in it around the same time.

Oh yeah Willow Creek. Yeah. Bobcat directed that. Yes, that's right. It's tremendous.

Just like this strange thing where you had these random pairings. So I can never remember which. I've seen Willow Creek. I have not seen Exist. Yeah.

So I'd actually seen Willow Creek three times before I saw this once. When I saw the poster for it or the cover art, I was like, oh, that looks familiar. But I had no idea it was Eduardo Sanchez. I had no idea it was. Really even bigfoot i never thought about it so like i don't know why it just flew under the radar for me but i think it was like streaming everywhere when i watched it so um it should still be readily available but i i would recommend that if you're if you're looking for a found footage.

I will add it to my list that's what i've asked you to do was give me my list of. Found footage that one's good i think you would like that one all. Right cool All right. On the subject of movies that flew under radar or ones that like everybody in the world had seen and I somehow never had. I forget how it came up in conversation, but I think I feel like Brandon and I were in like one of those movies where we're like, we just need something light.

And he had pointed out, he's like, you know, you still have never seen my big fat Greek wedding. Oh, I haven't seen it either. It's so fun. It's great. This was a big hit in what, 1998? year or so like it's an old I mean quote unquote it's an old movie like to us it was like anything that came out when we were still like buying our own tickets is not old but it's it was you know a big hit at the time big broadly appealing like you know young like kind of ugly duckling like character it's done so well I mean Mia Vardalos like also wrote it so this was you know very much something she was inhabiting And it's really sweet.

It's really funny. It's, it's can be a hard thing to have those sort of, especially in the nineties when we hated women and we hated big women. And, you know, as we know, those are very dark times and like watching it, like it, I mean, it took me, it made me think of like, oh, this makes sense as like what I always thought of. And it's true. It's sort of like a more Americanized version of Muriel's wedding.

Yeah. Where Muriel's wedding, which is fantastic, but it's very dark. And my big favorite Greek wedding is really not dark, but it's very, but it is heartfelt and honest and it doesn't feel, it just feels sweet, but in a way that is like, you're moving with it. It's not pandering. It's lovely.

If you haven't seen it, it's a nice little, you know, sprinkle it in somewhere. Yeah. I mean, it's one of those, like, you should watch it, right? Like, I feel like It's up there with Titanic. I should probably watch it.

I swear, we are going to do a Titanic episode one day. Never. No, we are. So Brian and I ended up, we were in Tennessee and we had bad weather one day. So we ended up going to the Titanic Museum.

Oh, that's really cool. Yeah. It wasn't the best museum, but it had some things of interest. And then like both of us were like, God, I'm kind of in a Titanic mood now. So then I read a book that was set on the Titanic.

I read like it was like a horror novel set there. And we both, I think have both been like, I don't know. One of these days we're going to find three hours and rewatch Titanic. So I, when that time comes, cause it's hard to find three hours. So I'm going to make that count and you are going to have to watch it too.

Oh, someday, someday, someday. Oh boy. Well, I didn't watch Titanic, but do you want me, do you want me to move on? I do. Okay.

Another 2025 movie. I don't know, man. I think this one is on shutter. Um, it's called find your friends. Um, it, I'm going to, I'm going to recommend this with an asterisk.

I don't know that I love this movie, but I'm still thinking about it. It's about like this group of, um, I'd say they're probably in their early twenties. These, this group of women, like kind of trying to have a party weekend and like, but all their like weird stuff keeps getting in the way and their trauma, uh, And it becomes like how dangerous the outside world can be to young women and stuff. And I know Bella Thorne's not made some great choices, but I personally really enjoy her as a performer. And I think she's tremendous in this.

And also actually all the girls are really great in it. And it's directed by a lady. And I think you can tell because the female friendships feel really like authentic. And, but also sometimes they're unbearably mean and hard to be in the same room with. So it's like, that's why I struggle to recommend it because sometimes the women are awful and you're like, why am I watching this?

And then something terrible happens in a specific sequence. And you're like, why the fuck am I watching this? But like, it's haunting in this really like lo-fi way. I don't know. I'm intrigued.

I, I love a mean girls type movie where it is that kind of complicated, like you, you get it, but you don't get it. And so on. I am looking at it on IMDb and my God, this cast is attractive. Yeah. Like I'm scrolling down and they're all like, God, this is intimidating.

These people are all really good looking. They're all, it's, it's, it's such a snapshot of a specific kind of young woman. Like they're all so impeccably cast at being someone that you wouldn't feel comfortable asking a question to. Do you know what I mean? Yes, I do.

Because as somebody who like, doesn't like those people but I'm also very fascinated at watching them on screen yeah right I think I didn't put it on my list because I didn't really kind of had a lot of mixed feelings on it but like I think you and I both watched Forbidden Fruits not that long ago and it like had that thing of like oh yeah like I don't understand why anybody would have ever wanted to be friends with these people but also like I am really intrigued watching them. Absolutely yeah yeah I guess that is a really good comparison, I would say. Except the. Outside world is very awful to these young women. So there is a bit of that to it.

And they filmed it in Joshua Tree. So it's got desert-y landscape, which I'm always a sucker for. Always nice. Yeah. But like I said, it's on Shudder, so it's pretty accessible.

I don't know. Yeah, I'm going to watch it. I'm really intrigued. I'll light recommend. I know you like Hashtag Horror.

Which feels like similar type of vibe. Yeah, I think the, I think, you know, multiple female friendships are fascinating, right? And they can have such awful, weird dynamics. And I like to think I like, I avoid, I kind of like saw that growing up and avoided it because I just wasn't friends with those people where that would have been a thing. Um, but it's like, I know it exists and it's there and I've watched it from afar and it makes for, especially when it is a like female writer director that it's something like, oh no, we, we know this is there and it's, this should be exploited like in horror.

This should be examined. Um, so when it's done well, I am like, count me right there. That's in part why Forbidden Fruits kind of let me down was that it sets us up and then it doesn't, like it wants to tell a different story. I'm like, Oh, but you had something really interesting in that corner. And then you went, you took the wrong turn.

So yeah, I'm adding this to my queue. I'm intrigued. Yeah. It definitely stuck with me. I felt kind of conflicted as I was watching it, but then like, you know, like when you just can't shake something and you keep thinking about certain setups or certain like, like lighting things.

And it's like, geez, that movie really did get in my brain. Yeah. Yeah. The one I have next is sort of like a light recommendation because it's not perfect, but I found it really interesting. I was there with it.

This is What You Wish For, which I watched on Hulu. It is directed by Nicholas Tomne, who also made The Perfect Host with David Hyde Pierce. I don't know if you remember that one. Oh, yeah. I liked that movie.

I've never even heard of this. Me neither. It definitely was a COVID shoot. you can tell because um this is one of those like things that i wonder at what point we'll stop noticing but there's just a lot of shots where you're like that's a shot of this person and then a shot of that person and a shot of this person and a shot of that person and like i and i'm watching it i'm like pause when was this made and sure enough like it was made um it's listed as 2023 but it was very clearly like shot during covid um yeah and but it's it like it's it made perfect sense that I put, put it on. Cause I liked the, like the description, the one line, um, synopsis was basically like, uh, a chef is invited to, uh, okay.

A down on his luck chef with gambling problems, fleeced to Latin America where he assumes the identity of another man. Like, okay. That, that wasn't the, it was a little more interesting sounding on Hulu, but Nick Stahl plays a chef, um, who visits his friend in like, actually they don't say where it is. And I think that's very deliberate. And you start to figure out that his friend is a chef for this very exclusive clientele who once a month demand a meal made from, as you might guess.

Is it people? It's people. Yes. I was ready for it. Yeah.

Yeah. And like, as somebody who loves, this sounds awful. As somebody who loves to cook, And instead of like, like, I, first of all, I love a, oh my God, it's a cannibal story reveal. Like that is one of my favorite, like we've talked a lot about like the little things in movies where suddenly it's that kind of movie for me, as soon as a movie that doesn't present itself as a cannibal movie is a cannibal movie. I am excited.

Also, I have said like, it is surprising to me that I have never seen a, for all of the like idea, now maybe here, you should write the script. for all of the, like, we've done everything, right? In horror, we've told every story there is to tell. Now we're setting them in 1945 Australia because we've run out of stories. You know what we haven't gotten? We have not gotten a like, solved like a movie where it's a bunch of chefs who think they're cast in a reality show for a cooking competition.

And instead it's like, okay, yeah, but you're going to be cooking each other, right? Like we have not gotten a cannibal cooking movie. Yeah. Yeah. Not even close, no.

No, and it's crazy, because why not? It's right there for you, people. Like, Top Chef is what? It's like 25th season? People want this.

Anyway. So, no, you're completely right. Can I just point out, though, I do not understand why we don't have a million things like that. Like, a fictional cooking show, fictional dating shows. Reality TV is such a part of our shared culture at this point that it seems silly that we're not doing riffs on that.

That's my thing. We had a couple of like sort of survivor ripoff type movies in the early 2000s around then. Yeah. I've seen one. There was a really good Big Brother type movie that I watched that.

Oh, what was the name of it? It was another horror movie. Not Dead Set. Oh, I love Dead Set though. But it wasn't that.

It was like Dead Set, but it was there was like a panda bear funhouse. No, was it funhouse? um fun house yeah this is a movie okay here's a recommend for you 2019 i know i watched it on hulu at the time this was basically like it's big brother there's a bunch of people who are in a house and they're all like influencers and they're all hot because they should be hot because it makes sense for the show and then very quickly you realize like oh no the concept of the show is that they're getting voted not voted off and like when they're voted off they're killed This. Looks really good. And it was, this movie actually is like, I remember watching this thinking like, okay, good. Okay.

Yeah. It's like a series seven type type movie. I cried in this movie. They're the way, because it's movie stars. The reviews of this movie are so bad.

Of course they are. People don't get it. They wanted what they wanted. They're wrong. This really does sound up my alley though.

So I trust you. Please watch it because it's not perfect. It's, But what they do is like, and again, I remember like the first like 10 minutes being like, oh, here we go. Like, I hate everybody. But then the movie keeps going.

And all of these people who have been introduced as like awful, you know, reality star, you know, aren't they hot? That's it. Start to like, you care about them. And there's a character that you do not expect to care about. And when it's that character's turn, I actually, and granted, like this was 2019, which meant I would have watched it probably like during COVID or like when my mom was dying, I was at a point when I was very emotional.

I cried watching this movie. I want to, I want to see it. I'm so excited for you to watch it to see if like, if I watch this again, would I have felt that way or did it just catch me at the right time? But yes, all this to say, we should have more cannibal cooking movies. I agree with you.

Yeah. What do you wish for? Again, this director, like it, he has a particular aesthetic, like the perfect host looks very like, specific like very like wealthy in this like cold kind of way and this one does too um it really worked for me I think it is because it is kind of about this guy who's in a bad spot um and you're not because at first I was like I don't like this movie isn't giving me anything for this guy I don't like him um and it's like you yeah like you don't have to you just realize oh he's in a shit position and you're kind of following it with him So I found it, it could have made a lot of decisions that would have made it like an easier movie in a way. Like it could have made him more likable.

It could have made him more heroic. It could have done things differently. And it like, I think deliberately chose not to, which just made me intrigued. And I was like there for this entire movie. So what you wish for is a recommend for me.

That sounds interesting. Yeah. Yeah. Boy, I just, I'm a modern girl. I can't help it.

2026, but not going to be on my list of favorites. I wanted to see if you had seen it or if you had opinions. That would be Mother Mary. Oh no, I have not. David Lowery.

I, oh boy. So me and David Lowery, we have thoughts and feelings together, I think. I'm very all over the place on his stuff. But I think Green Knight is maybe one of the best. I still haven't seen Green Knight.

It's like one of the best movies I've ever seen. And I rewatched it. So it's not I'm not hallucinating it. I still like it. And I almost feel like this movie, like if I watch it in the right mood or if I see it again or maybe if I wait, like something will click and it'll work.

But like it really left me cold, which is unfortunate because it is undeniably beautiful. Mm hmm. But it's also like, have you ever heard that the surf Dracula joke? Like if you call yourself surf Dracula, I want to see Dracula surfing in your show. Like if you call your TV show surf Dracula.

No, but I get it. But so like, I had a bit of a feeling about this because it's about like Anne Hathaway plays a like pop star. And like, I wanted it to be about that, but it's not like at all about that. which is fine. And then that's when you get into like the expectations stuff. Like just because I, I heard surf Dracula and I wanted Dracula to be surfing and he wasn't, does that mean the movie's bad?

I don't know if I think the movie's bad or if I was just waiting for Dracula to surf and he never did. Like, I just really thought it was going to be like this kind of maybe even psychosexual relationship between this like pop star and her, her like, um, creative costume designer. Yeah. Yeah, but, like, they have this, like, intertwined creative relationship, and it is about that, but it's about that in, like, the most decompressed, nothing way possible. And there's so much talking in it.

Like, it's just a lot of monologuing, and that's totally cool, but maybe not for me. I have not seen a single David Lowery movie. Really? Yeah, I'm looking, I'm like, I thought I had, but nope. I came close to watching Pete's Dragon when I was babysitting once, but that was it.

No, I have not seen Ghost Story. I have not seen Green Knight. No, I have not seen a David Lowery movie yet. It sounds like I should not start with this one. Well, he's a really good visual storyteller, I think.

Excuse me. I think that's kind of undeniable that he's a really good visual storyteller. I mean, that's kind of like the Green Knight. Yeah, that's what I've heard of Green Knight being one of the best looking movies of. The last 20 years.

Yeah. And I don't think there's no slouch in here on display. Like it is a visual feast. It's very interesting. But like nothing else to me was interesting.

And I found that a little disappointing, I guess. Very interesting. Yeah. When I had heard people talk about it, like I haven't heard anybody say anything to make me watch it. Because most of what I've heard has been the same as you of like, I, this doesn't deliver on anything that it seems like it's presenting.

Yeah. Yeah. Interesting. All right. Yeah.

I think it just ended up on HBO or something. It is on HBO. That's why a lot of people were suddenly talking about it. So like, if you're, I guess, blanketly, if anybody's curious, go for it, but like, don't, don't think it's actually going to be about anything. Oops.

That sounded mean. Well, on the topic of HBO, Um, I'm going to flip to TV for a moment because it's been, again, it's been a while since we did a catch up. So in all this time of non-catch up, I watched one show that then went right into another show. So then I'm going to pair them, um, where everybody was talking about it. Finally, I'm like, all right, fine.

I'll watch this pit that everybody is talking about. Oh, you watched the pit. The pit's amazing. It's great. And then I haven't seen it.

Oh, it's so good. It's, I mean, it's, it is riveting. Like, once you get, like, maybe halfway through the first episode and kind of, like, get the rhythm of what you're watching, like, I had to, like, stop myself from... Because I would, like, want to have it on. I'm like, no, no, you're not, like, oh, but you're cooking.

No, no, no. Watch something else that you can, like, sit down and watch it. You have to watch it, yeah. And what happens, because I was watching on HBO, so when I got to season two and season two ended, the next thing that came up before I could get to my remote to see what else was on, I didn't even bother because it went right into... The pilot episode of ER.

Oh, we did a mini ER rewatch. So I didn't really watch it when it was on. I would catch some of it because my dad watched it, but I never was like, oh, it's Thursdays. I'm going to sit down and watch ER. So we are now, so now I just started having it on while I was doing stuff.

And now it's become like, because Jeopardy was on hiatus for the summer. So now it's like, I have to wait because it's like, oh, we're going to watch it while we eat now. It is, boy. Okay. First of all, ER is great.

Like I am in just now I'm like halfway, not even halfway, like we just started season two. So we're in early days of ER. It is fascinating because it really does to go into that right after the pit. It just feels like, oh, this was, yeah, like here's Dr. Robbie.

When he first was a medical intern, because it feels like it could be the same character. It's fascinating in that way. It's a very good show, obviously like it, you know, had a lot of pedigree. It ran for a long time. And what is so interesting about it?

Oh, also you get guest stars galore, which is exciting. Cause you get like the first episode, I think you get like Tobin Bell and Miguel Ferrer as guest stars. And so you, we're just watching it now. And Lucy Liu is on there as a baby face, Lucy Liu. And so all of that's very exciting, but there's also something about it that is cause it's not, it was never like an overly pop culture show.

So it's not like, Oh, it's so nineties. It takes me back. But it's just like the, the style of storytelling and of like the episodic storytelling and like knowing exactly what time of year it was because the show ran from September to May. So it's like winter this week. Okay.

It's going to be winter next week. Oh, okay. I think it's going to start getting warmer. It's just like, puts you in this other like mind frame. And I said to Brian and I'm like, can you get me some of like, cause I knew he had them somewhere.

I'm like, can you go find your entertainment weekly is cause I want to read some and just like immerse myself back in that time. Yeah. So satisfying. to go back to being like 14 year old Emily Friday nights after like after school came home, got the mail, there was a new copy of EW. I can sit there and eat my snack and we'll read it. Yeah.

That's, that's very cute. Yeah. I think it's interesting that you're enjoying it and like, it's still playing well, you know, it does. Even if you don't necessarily have that like deep nostalgia. Well, yeah.

And especially like coming off of the pit, which is, I mean, The Pit is one of the best shows on TV. Like, it is so well done. It is so well cast. Like, beautifully shot, everything. And with ER, it is, it feels like it was very culturally, like, I guess because it's Doctors, like, they're not judging people so much.

Like, so you have, like, there's an early episode where there's a, like, trans woman who comes in and it is like awkward because the doctors do not know what to do and do not know how to talk to this woman and it actually is very sad because it goes in a very dark direction but it also feels very of well that's yeah that's probably gosh that that's how that would have been done and the characters are of the time um so you have like this mix of being at times very like stuck in the 90s and other times where it feels like there's a little bit of more like scientific looking at things, if you will. I don't know. It doesn't feel like you're watching it. Obviously, it's the 90s and there are certain aspects of the storytelling that feel very like, oh, we're going to have a cliffhanger here.

Oh, these characters are, oh, he's going to walk in on her right when she's about to examine the patient. Like, that's all there. But there is something about it that feels more mature than I think of when I think of so much of that era of TV. No, it plays well. And I think just seeing so many of these actors when they're young is, you know, it's just really riveting.

It is. I used to watch it pretty often. religiously thursday nights at 10 right yeah yeah in my young young age i'd say maybe the first three seasons i saw as they aired every episode and like i don't know if i had any business watching those when i was in junior high but like it was it was very good tv yeah it holds up yeah yeah we we i kind of start to dip out when the cast starts moving around too much and i definitely didn't see like the end of it but like it's it's always fun to like kind of just watch a few because they are like good. And there's what like 25 episodes a season so yeah man it's gonna take us a really long time to get through it yep all right what do you got you won't you won't run out of stuff nope nope um so this is a fun question for you have you ever seen slaughter high.

1986 it's a guy with a jester hat. Yes I have I believe let me just go back because there's a few that look very similar that all kind of I know this one's like prank gone wrong right. Yes yes it's like it's like it almost seems like it should be called April Fool's Day. Very much yep I'm going back to I watched this and wrote about it in 2009 Woo! So I had never seen it.

So for Slasher Summer, I was trying to excavate some maybe like things I hadn't seen. Like I saw, I watched Blood Diner and I watched, there's some like cheerleader camp maybe is what it's called. So I watched some, I like, you know, got out of my comfort zone a little bit. But I think maybe this was my favorite of all the weird ones or weird for me ones that I watched. It's very mean and very weird.

And, like, these kids, a.k.a. young adults, that are doing these things are extremely mean and brutal. Isn't it, like, the reunion? Like, a class reunion? It is a reunion. They get lured into the dilapidated school, and then, like, the boy they terrorized is, like, terrorizing them now.

And, like, there's, like, a lab blows up. And there's, like, sexual assault in a shower. It's extremely strange. Carolyn Monroe, right? Yes, I think so.

Hold on. Yes, Carolyn Monroe. Yes. Really a stunning beauty. But what a weird movie.

Yeah, the jester hat's cool. Like, the sort of, like, look of the killer I remember really liking. It really makes you. wonder like now sitting comfortably in 20, comfortably in 2026, like what, what kept this from being like a seminal slasher? Like, it's just interesting looking back, like these ones that aren't, aren't necessarily, aren't necessarily worse or like meaner or like poorly made. Why did they do worse than another movie that we consider a classic that we'll watch every year?

Here's a question, a good question on that. Well, no, because I was going to say, I'm, like, thinking through, like, if you were to ask, and I guess the question, too, is, is it something you ask to horror fans or to general audiences, like, and said, oh, what are, what are the slashers that you remember? What are the best slashers? What is the answer to that? Like, what are you, what answers are you getting?

And how many of it is just, like, uh, Friday the 13th, because there's so many of them, and that made the biggest cultural impact, even though I don't think anybody would say any Friday the 13th is the best slasher. aside from your franchise, if you took your franchises out of the way, what are the ones that people actually know? I feel like they know things that Jamie Lee Curtis was in. They know Prom Night, but that's because there were five of them and Jamie Lee Curtis was in one. I've also noticed, this is a really good point because I've noticed people will pull, you're completely right, they'll pull certain things with standout stars or ideas like April Fool's Day because that's the name. Whereas this one feels more like a great April Fool's Day movie.

This feels like the seminal prank slasher, but I don't feel like we talk about it that way. So it is interesting. I see people throw out the burning a lot for slashers that aren't necessarily franchise ones. But I guess maybe I don't see much beyond that. No, and with the burning, I think you have two big things at play there.

Well, maybe three. One is that you have a before they were famous group of people in there. You've got Holly Hunter. You've got Jason Alexander. Fisher Stevens.

Yeah. So you have that going for it. I think, too, is that it's an easy one to cite because then you're saying, oh, no, it's the better summer camp slasher. Yep. Exactly.

Right. And so and like between that and also like sleepaway camp, it's a like, oh, yeah, there's a bunch here. But this is like what horror fans know is the best. And then the other thing I think is that you have a you you have one big scene that that horror fans really vouch for because it's I think it's Tom Savini doing it and it's kids dying which is really rare in horror that's why I think the horror fan like the burning is like the horror fan summer camp slasher because it like of a couple of those things But in general, like, yeah. I also don't want to leave out, because this has really made me turn on the burning in recent years, the heavy Weinstein connection.

Oh, yeah. Like, but not like in a, I don't watch anything the Weinsteins produce. Like, girl, I don't have that luxury. But, like, the fact that, like, Harvey's got a story credit on it, and Bob's the writer on it. And when you watch it, you can feel that.

Yeah, you can. There's weirdness to the script. And I've written extensively about The Burning. I loved that movie. And then I watched it post-Weinstein fallout, I guess.

And it did play different. I wasn't imagining it. There's stuff in that script, now you know what you know, that feels genuinely gross. Yeah, there's a lot of sexual... exploitation that feels weird and young. um and again that's the reason why i think some horror fans liked it was because it felt like it was doing the things that the other movies couldn't do and it's like yeah exactly there's a reason why other movies didn't do it because they shouldn't like yeah It's icky. Like it's a movie that I haven't watched probably in 20 years.

And like, I don't probably ever need to see it again for many of those reasons. I think that's smart, but I think it's cool. Always going out of what I think of as my like main group of slashers that I like rewatch or whatever. I think it's fun to find new stuff still for me. I know Slaughter High is not like buried, but like I had never seen it.

Well, and that's what I keep finding on Tubi is I cannot believe how many horror films there were in the eighties that I didn't know about. Because I was a video store kid and like we had like the video store 112 video, which only recently closed, had like the biggest selection of horror movies in New York State. And so like I knew everything. I knew every cover. And I realized recently on Tubi, I watched Deadly Manor, which I'd never heard of.

And I looked, I'm like, oh, it's like, oh, OK, so it was a Spanish-American movie. Like, so maybe it wasn't released. And then I looked up the director. I'm like, oh, I said the exact same thing about another one of his movies that I watched on Amazon called Edge of the Axe. That it was this director of like, these were fine.

They weren't great, but they were 80 slashers. And I had never heard of either one of them. So it was like, there are so many more movies out there that we don't know. And Tubi has a lot of them. Just one last tangent on that.

When I was really digging into my lady director things and I found Roberta Finlay. And she did The Oracle and Lurkers, which are two movies I'll never stop talking about. I watched those and I was like, how is this not the movie that everybody reps from the 80s? Like, how are we not constantly talking about this movie? How am I just now hearing about this movie?

It's weird. It is weird. Not even popular, but I guess it's weird what has staying power and what doesn't seem to. Yeah, it really is. All right, here's a movie that has staying power because it's old.

And I finally watched it. It is, what year was this movie? I think it's 1960. Oh, I'm good. 1960.

Classic movie. I had never seen. I think I told you we have this like calendar of old classic movies. And I keep feeling like, oh, I need to watch all the ones that are on here. And this was one that Bran and I had both never seen.

It took us a very long time to see it because it was on Canopy and kept teasing us. Then we couldn't watch it and so on. But finally, the day came when we were able to sit down and watch The Apartment. Oh, fun! I know that had been an eternal struggle.

Yeah. How was it? Amazing. Yeah. Yeah, it's so good.

I mean, I have seen... I probably need to see more, because I have loved every Billy Wilder film I've seen. Jack Lemmon is great in it. Shirley MacLaine is, like, heartbreaking in this movie. And it's very... like having, I, I kind of can't believe I watched all of Mad Men and never watched The Apartment because it is like, Mad Men is so clearly indebted to The Apartment just in terms of like the type of men that were in New York and how they were living, the type of women and what they were getting and not getting from these men.

Uh, it is beautiful. Like it is just, some of the shots are very iconic and you can understand why. Um, it is very sad. Uh, But it is one of these movies I'm watching and I was like, I love when I can watch a movie and understand why and when somebody became a star. And Shirley MacLaine in this movie, you get it.

You are just like leaning up on your couch because you want to protect her and you want to take her hand and guide her over here and away from there. She is so, so moving in this movie. It is beautiful. And it's really, at some point, you got to watch it. I agree.

And I think I don't have anything to add because I have not watched it. But I will say just five years later, no, five years earlier, Shirley MacLaine is in The Trouble with Harry. And I really think that you need to see, not you, the royal you, needs to see a Shirley MacLaine movie from that early period in her career to really get it. Because I didn't get it until I finally watched The Trouble with Harry. And I was like, holy shit, wait a second.

Who is this star? Who is this beautiful gleaming star? It was, it's so undeniable in those earlier roles, like just what, like she was like electric. It's funny too, because I think for a lot of people generationally, and again, actually, I'm really curious as I say this out loud, if you will be with me or not on it, but I know for me, the first thing I probably saw Shirley MacLaine in was Steel Magnolias. Yeah, I, I, I would have to think, but that's probably the first time I became like aware of her.

And in that movie, she is so commanding and she is hilarious, but she's also like this grouchy, mean old woman. And it is just such a like imprint because that was also just such a strong character that I always think of Shirley MacLaine as that. So whenever I would like read about like all the other things Shirley MacLaine was in life. And like when you talk, when you talk, like listen to interviews of other people talking about her and how like you know, the whole, like, past lives thing and, like, just how she was very, like, and is very, like, hippy-dippy. But to see her, like, young on the screen, she just has that, um, trying to think of who to even compare her to, like, just where you are, your heart is with her immediately.

She is so lovable on screen. Yeah, I totally agree. All right, I think we are down to our final one. Is this my final one? I think it is.

We've got. So, again, heading back to 2025, I guess. Let's see. I navigated away from it because I wanted to look up the movie you were talking about. Okay.

It is Exit 8, which is. Oh, okay. It's on Shudder now. Yeah, it's bebopping around, so I think it's a good time to talk about it. I've not seen it yet. time loop movie I like a time loop I like.

A repetition movie I like a it's a very liminal space movie. I know those are all the rage kids love liminal spaces it made me cry it. Is heartbreaking is this a Korean movie is it a Korean movie maybe is it Japanese It's not English language, right? It's not English language. I wish I had it up so I could sound really smart.

I think it is Japanese. Yeah, Japanese. Oh, my gosh. I was right. Look.

No, it's genuinely unsettling. Like, it's, like, disturbing. But then, at some point, you're like, oh, no. I want to go away and cry forever because this is the most heartbreaking thing I've ever seen in my life. It was...

So well done. It felt also like very gamey. Like you were trying to figure it out at the same time as the, as like, you know, the protagonist you're following. Right. And it's an adaptation of a video game.

Yeah. So it like really felt like you were like, okay, I'm in this with you and we're going to try to figure it out together. And so you find yourself like pointing at things on the screen and being like, no, no, no, no, wait, didn't you see that? Interesting. It's really fun.

I liked it quite a bit. Okay. I, I I'm wondering if I should propose this with Brandon or if I watch it on my own. Oh, okay. I'm glad you enjoyed it.

Cause I've heard good things about it. Yeah. It, it, it was like, I think friend of the show, Will Smith also found it really emotionally effective. I believe I did read that somewhere. So I think it's cool.

Sometimes it seems difficult to like balance genuine, like tension and like, disturbing imagery with like real emotional like core. And this had it. Nice. I don't know. Go for it.

Yeah. No, I like what you're saying. I'm definitely going to. Yeah. You like the triangle, right?

Triangle movie. I did like triangle. Yes. So I think you would like. Okay, cool.

Cool. All right. All right. The last one I'll do was, okay. So again, this was at my theater.

There was a Q and a, there was a director in person. I'm like, don't know how many more times in life I'm going to get the chance to see Paul Schrader do a Q & A. So my movie theater did a screening of First Reformed. I saw that you did that. Yeah.

So let me ask, why are you, first of all, why do you keep going into the theater to see some of the most depressing movies I've ever watched? Because that's what they keep doing the Q & As for. And I really like a good Q & A. Had you seen this movie before? No, I had not.

This movie ruined my life for like a week and a half. I didn't know you'd seen it. I could see this being a very, a movie that you would feel that for. Oh boy. How was it in the theater?

What did you think? So, I mean, I didn't know, I knew what I knew about it was I knew it had been, you know, pretty beloved. People really liked it. And I knew it was roughly loosely based on the country priest, which I had seen in college 20 plus years ago. So, and I, and I just, I think Paul Schrader has proven to be a very interesting man in a lot of ways.

To say the least. When she did cat people and like basically like gave an interview where she's like, yeah, well, I always sleep with the director, but then I, you know, um, usually stop as soon as the movie is over. And I stopped before that with cat people. I just imagine what that relationship was like it just said everything I needed to know that like oh no like even like if your rule was like yeah no I like to get into it like I'm good I'm good right here but so the it's a beautiful movie so it is it truly is yeah for those who don't know Ethan Hawke plays a pastor and of a church that is probably fairly close. Like it's, it was filmed, I think in both upstate and Long Island, but like, it's somewhat near like where I live.

And he's going through stuff to say the least. And he has a very small congregation and Amanda Seyfried comes to him with her husband and says like, you need to talk to my husband because I'm pregnant and he doesn't want me having the baby. And he's got, he's just not happy. And I mean, that scene with the husband is, haunting me um as it haunts the priest as it haunts ethan hawke's character who then kind of finds himself with limited time and seeming frantically trying to figure out how to use it um it is it's a it's a beautiful film everybody's great in it i think amanda seyfried is another one of those actors i would put in the shirley mclean school of i'll watch anything you do and my heart is with you in anything you do i find her just one of and i think also like the fact that she seems to be a pretty cool person in real life helps.

But I find her wet. Like I just immediately sympathize with her on screen. This, I mean, this is a dark film and I think it does a lot of choices in different ways. What is fascinating to me is watching it was like, it feels very much a movie about somebody who is scared of this world and where it's going, especially the environment and, And at the end, so the Q & A, the moderator said to Paul Schrader, like, I think this is one of the, you know, best movies about the environmental crisis of the last few years. And Paul Schrader takes a mic and is like, that's just a metaphor.

It's not about the environment. And it's like, because I was so curious because I know like Paul Schrader has been very like pro-AI. Yeah. And it's like, Paul Schrader, do you understand? Because in this movie, you have characters very emotionally, like, speaking straight to the camera, saying, like, we are poisoning the water.

Look at this water. And this is not AI-based. It's just, this movie is 10 years ago. So it's because, yeah, we're poisoning the water with big business and with manufacturing and this and that. And I did wonder about that.

I'm, like, watching this movie, like, somebody who, like, has to care about the environment for this movie. And then Paul Schrader basically is like, no, this is what the movie's about. And that's, that's wild. The other things that he was kind of saying was, as he was talking about making the movie, he said, he's like, I wanted to make this movie when I was young, like when I first decided I was going to make movies, but I knew I couldn't. Cause I knew if I made this movie, I would not, it wouldn't do well.

And I would never get to make another movie after it. Like he was aware that like, this isn't commercial at all. Nobody would, this movie would not make money. And he was like, he talked a lot about the, like basically the money side of filmmaking, which makes sense because he's like 80 years old. He knows what it takes to make a movie and to not have a movie get made.

And he talked a lot about like, basically how you flatter people who have money into producing your movie and you make them understand that they're not going to make money from it, but they are going to get satisfied from it. And yeah, Like, a young person, like, one of the questions they asked was, like, oh, how do you balance, you know, the financial, like, you know, making a movie, like, producing something commercially versus artistically? And Paul Schrader's answer was basically, like, kid, you're in the wrong business. Like, it's a money-making business. If you want to be an artist, be a poet.

Don't be a filmmaker. And it's, like, fascinating because it's, like, the final product that is on screen is... beautiful and is a piece of art and is actively not making easy decisions and not is making decisions that are not the right decisions to have made money or to have been like, oh yeah, commercially viable hit. Like it's a movie. And like the core of the movie is also about a man who's kind of revolting against that. Who's dealing with a like mega church that funds what he does and and having to figure out if he is going along with that or if he's going to fight back on it.

And so it's just so ironic that, you know, the filmmaker is basically saying like, oh yeah, but ultimately like I wouldn't fight back, but his film is fighting back. And so it's, I don't know, it's like that strange thing that you do that you have to remember sometimes a film really does belong, like art belongs to the like public, not necessarily the artist in that way. And I don't think he is a... I mean, he also said some other lovely things. It was not him sitting there counting his money bags.

It's just he's old enough to have been in this business long enough to have seen different angles of it and know what he had to do to make this movie. And I think he. The. Movie is so caring and is so questioning of things. And it's almost like he could do that as a film...

But then he knows, like, the next thing he does, he's got to do, like, swing the other way. So it's really, really interesting. That adds another strange layer to it that almost makes me want to rewatch it. But I will not. What an interesting experience you had with that movie.

Yeah. Very strange way to come at it. Yeah, especially because it's... What's interesting, too, is... The movie ends in a very kind of open-ended, odd way.

Yeah. And it's a very, like, turn, like, fade to black immediately. And you're sitting there thinking, wait. And you kind of, the one thing was, like, I didn't, because I didn't know how it ended. I didn't have the time to process that and think about it and understand what it was doing or what it was saying.

And part of it may have been, you know, the interview starts and, you know, the moderators are going one direction and There were only a few questions to the audience because they ran out of time. And I did kind of wish, I don't know what you could have asked about the ending because I've since read interviews where he's been pretty, not vague about it, but kind of like, well, I had it written one way, I filmed it, and then I wanted to film it another way and decided to leave it up to you. But also, here's what I probably think. And I would have liked to hear him talk a little bit more about that, especially now it having been a few years. Because I love an ambiguous ending.

And it just, I didn't kind of have, the only like downside of I think that experience was, I didn't get the time to process that ambiguity to know, like, what else I wanted to know about it. That makes a lot of sense. It's, it's, like I said, you had a strange experience with that. I kind of knew going in that it was going to be hard. but I didn't actually know a lot of details and it was a lot more difficult of a watch than I expected. I feel like that's a kind of a movie, especially because there is some level of ambiguity where you, I can't tell anybody how they're going to react to it.

Like, like people have asked me, Oh, should I watch it? Like my mom asked me if she should watch it. I told her about it. And I was like, I don't think I can, Yeah. No, don't like, I don't want anybody to watch it, but also I think about it all the time.

Like there's certain scenes, like I can picture certain scenes in my head right now. And they're so lush and the lighting and just the emotion. It's beautifully shot. It truly is. It's like, it really has like this kinetic feeling in it.

Every scene in that movie feels alive, but it's also one of the most painful movies I've ever watched. Yeah. So like, I don't know if I'm going to tell people to go watch it. It's tricky. I think there's like, it's one of those things if the door opens in a conversation where you're.

Like, well, have this. Because it's, and I think to the like religious side of it is like, I don't think he even got into that. Because it's like, you don't have to have been like, I was raised sort of Catholic, but not overly. So there's certain aspects of watching it. And the movie like kind of like, like religion is an important part of it.

Like there are the characters in this movie, like religion is important to them. Otherwise they wouldn't be like working for the church. And I think you could definitely see it in different lights in terms of what it's saying about that. But it does make it like even more for anybody that, finds those kinds of, like, examinations of faith and church something that appeals to them, it's really one to watch for that. Ethan Hawke is great in it.

Oh, tremendous, right? Like, Ethan Hawke is one of those actors that I think has aged so nicely into being comfortable in camera, where, like, I find Ethan Hawke now, I, like, I am always happy to watch him on screen. And there is something about him that just feels really genuine and natural in a way that not many actors can quite get. And this is kind of against type in some ways. It doesn't feel like that's who I would have cast initially, like thinking about this part, but he's great.

Amanda Seyfried. I always have to remember how to say her name. Maybe one of my favorite performances of hers. Like really heartbreaking and. Yeah.

And, and mysterious. Like, yeah, you really, you, you don't understand necessarily. Like, cause you can think of her character a lot of different ways. Because you're also only getting her from his viewpoint. But just so riveting.

Yeah, Cedric the Entertainer is great. Oh, yeah. That's him. That's him. He's the megachurch guy.

Oh, yeah. I remember that now. Oh, boy. It has been a minute. Oh, boy.

That movie. Yeah, that movie. Well, if you're looking for recommendations, you've gotten quite a bit of different things from us. Yeah. I'm excited to check many of these out.

So I will let you know. I have written down at least three movies. So you always know that's a good sign. Yes. All right.

Well, we are going to do something spooky in October. Well, let's talk about that off mic unless you have like an immediate idea. I don't have an immediate idea. I can't take that pressure. Oh, gosh.

Okay. All right. We'll figure it out. All right. But until then, folks, we'll sign up.

You have a newsletter now. Yeah, I do have a newsletter and it works. Yeah. If you don't know, my name's Christine Makepeace. You can find me on the internet.

I'm on Blue Sky Instagram. I have a newsletter. My links are places. You can find me. Excellent.

And what are you doing? Nothing overly exciting just yet, but you can find my stuff at DeadlyDollsHouse.com. And you should. Why, thank you. All right.

Well, on that note, happy September and happy belated. No, wait. I never remember the date. Happy birthday month, Christine. Thank you.

It's later in the month, so it applies. All right. Bye, everybody. Goodbye. A long time ago, a million years B.C.

The best things in life were absolutely free. But no one appreciated a sky that was always blue. And no one congratulated a moon that was always new. So it was planned that they would vanish now and then. And you must pay before you get them back again That's what storms were made for And you shouldn't be afraid of all Every time it rains, it rains And it's from heaven Don't you know each cloud contains pennies from heaven?

You'll find your fortune falling all over town. Be sure that your umbrella is upside down. Praise Him for the package of sunshine.